Fayyad urges Fatah, other PLO factions to join transitional cabinet

Ramallah - Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called Wednesday on factions which have announced a boycott of his newly appointed government to join the cabinet. 'Our hands are stretched out,' the premier, who is not affiliated with any Palestinian faction, told reporters following the first session of his new, 20-member transitional government. Fayyad was sworn in by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas late Tuesday, as talks between Abbas' Fatah movement and the rival Hamas organization on forming a unity government were making little headway. Fatah's own parliament bloc has announced it will boycott the new government, as have two other Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) factions - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Palestinian People's Party, which are the second and fourth-largest in the PLO respectively. Fayyad said he had left the door open for them to join, noting the government can have up to 24 ministers. 'We tried to have a government that is composed of Palestinian factions to strengthen the government, which is still open to change and alteration,' he said. Seven Fatah ministers have joined despite their movement's calls to boycott the Fayyad government. Fatah is angry that Abbas did not appoint one of its members as prime minister. 'The government is transitional and it will end its work once a national unity government is formed at a time that should not exceed the constitutional date for elections,' Fayyad said. Palestinian factions are holding reconciliation talks in an effort to end two years of division. The fifth round ended in Cairo Monday without a breakthrough, but the hoped-for outcome remains an agreement on a unity government that would prepare for presidential and legislative elections by January 25, 2010.